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ACTOR
Robert RockwellHanna Axmann-RezzoriBetty Lou GersonBarbra Fuller
DIRECTOR
R.G. Springsteen
SYNOPSICS
The Red Menace (1949) is a English movie. R.G. Springsteen has directed this movie. Robert Rockwell,Hanna Axmann-Rezzori,Betty Lou Gerson,Barbra Fuller are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1949. The Red Menace (1949) is considered one of the best Drama,Film-Noir,Thriller movie in India and around the world.
An ex-GI becomes involved with the American Communist party, and falls in love with his instructor. The pair quickly realise their mistake, when they see how party leaders handle a member who questioned the party's principles. When they try to leave, they're marked for assassination and hunted by the party killers.
Same Actors
Same Director
The Red Menace (1949) Reviews
But Awful is what makes it a cult classic....
My uncle told me this was the WORST film he ever directed. He was a contract director and the studio wanted him to make a movie about Communism. "This McCarthy thing seems to be catching on," he said they told him, "and we need a film quick." They gave him six weeks and $100,000 budget - an unheard-of pittance for a feature film, even in 1949. He didn't have a cast, a crew, a script, or even a story line. So he called friends who had very little screen time, knowing no "Name" actor would commit to a project like this. Besides, most of Uncle Gordon's actor friends were Western stars, like Roy Rogers. Gordon got a writer from the studio to pen the script, but he quit half-way through filming. So he and another actor had to complete the script, adding to it as they went. At the start of each day's filming, they had no idea what they were going to do. But, as promised, Uncle Gordon got this movie made on time and on budget. It saddened him a little, knowing that with all his directing credits, he would probably be most remembered for the worst film he ever made. He was proud of the rest of his filmography, and enjoyed directing well into his 70's. As for me, well, I think its kinda cool that my Great Uncle had a lot to do with the making of a cult classic. Its no Rocky Horror, Reefer Madness, or even Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, but in the genre of ridiculously bad films, Red Menace can hold its celluloid head high. Just remember, Bud Springsteen had to work under extreme conditions to churn out a film this bad.
The "Reefer Madness" of Cold War films
And throw in a touch of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and you've got the idea. The commies are using sex and booze to lure all-American boys to do ... just what isn't exactly clear, but the ultimate goal is to promote atheism and destroy freedom. Meanwhile, all they seem to be doing is killing their own members when not turning them in to the INS. An added treat for 50's TV fans is that the dimwitted hero is played by Robert Rockwell, who later portrayed Mr. Boynton, the suspiciously uninterested biology teacher eternally pursued by Eve Arden in "Our Miss Brooks"
It ain't exactly subtle....but it IS entertaining.
"The Red Menace" is a super-cheap exposé on Communists in America who were working towards the destruction of the country back in 1949. None of the actors in this Republic B-movie are folks you'll recognize...which shows what confidence the studio had in this movie! The film begins with a couple driving from California into Arizona. The lady, in particular, is very nervous and you learn via a LONG flashback what it's all about and why she's worried. Bill Jones (Robert Rockwell) is an angry WWII vet. His bitterness attracts the attention of a Communist recruiter who gets him hooked up with folks who seduce him gradually into embracing Communism...and they use women to do this gentle 'guidance'. However, while Bill soon becomes a full-fledged Commie, some of the women working to convert him towards this system are beginning to have their doubts...particularly when they see how vicious their superiors are in dealing with dissent. Bill, too, begins to see how the Party is filled with jerks...folks who couldn't care less about truth or equality. So is this film any good? Well, yes and no. As a history teacher, I must point out that there was a Communist Party USA and many of their tactics shown in the film are pretty realistic...despite how we tend to look on the Red Scare as almost comical today. This would especially be true of the Party just before WWII--when folks went from being lionized to demonized by them. But it also comes off as a bit over- earnest...a bit too trite as well---especially at the barf-inducing ending. Subtle, it sure isn't...but it is entertaining. So, despite low production values, it does keep your interest. I noticed one review compared this to "Reefer Madness". Well, that's their opinion, but I felt "The Red Menace" had much, much better production values and isn't even close to being as schlocky as "Reefer Madness" or "Sex Madness" (by the same production company). This film is much slicker by comparison...though I gotta admit that speech at the INS office near the end of the film was amazingly over the top...and a bit reminiscent of the guy playing the piano in "Reefer Madness".
A sobering account of Communist Party life, chillingly presented.
In view of what the Soviet archives revealed about the U. S. Communist Party(thank you, Gorby), this movie hits the nail right on the head. All the tactics Communists used to gain members, such as having female members sleep with prospective male members, as well as the means they used to create trouble, are shown in this movie. My father-in-law was once a Communist. He told me that the CPUSA would take up a collection for African-Americans on trial somewhere and keep the money for themselves. If a man quit the party, not only would he be shunned, but other members' kids would be expected to bully his kids! All this is shown in the movie, including even the beatings administered to wayward members. See this film and learned what we narrowly escaped from ending up as.
The grandpa of absurd Anti-Communist melodramas.
This horribly written propaganda piece was obviously intended to be a scare tactic to warn America's rebellious young the dangers awaiting them if they joined the Communist party. Using the cynical Robert Rockwell as the story's protagonist and sap manipulated into joining the party, the film immediately shows its disgust with its topic by a Crime Does Not Pay style of narration where you often can't tell if it is the narrator speaking or a character on the other side of the camera. One dimensional characters show signs of insanity, evidenced by the sudden breakdown of the tough female commander played by Betty Lou Gerson, best known for her voice of Cruella de Ville. Future Ed Wood star Barbara Fuller plays a party member whose bible thumping mother compares her to Mary Magdelene. She had better material when she handed Wood her sweater in "Glen or Glenda". Her character's plight involves aiding her poet boyfriend who becomes persona non grata when his latest work offends party leaders. "Bullwinkle's" Boris and Natasha must have had a field day watching this.